


The Hiccups Along The Way

by KingTrashLord



Category: Dragons: Riders of Berk (Cartoon), How to Train Your Dragon (Movies)
Genre: F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-11-24
Updated: 2015-06-21
Packaged: 2018-02-26 19:38:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 14,214
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2663924
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KingTrashLord/pseuds/KingTrashLord
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hiccup was never like his peers. While they were rough and tough Vikings. Hiccup… Well he was just that. A iccup.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Full Summary

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own HTTYD or any characters from the series.

-The Hiccups Along The Way- (Summary)

Hiccup was never like his peers. While they were rough and tough Vikings- Hiccup… Well he was just that. Hiccup.

(A/N): This story will flow through the course of the first movie and the tv show, Dragons: riders/defenders of berk. I plan on having this be endgame! Dagcup (I realize that dagur won’t be around till a lot later but there will be mentions and flashbacks with him in it.)

Also for those of you who do not like Dagcup, or slash I kindly suggest that you leave. 

And for the record I do ship Hicstrid but I love Dagcup a little more and I’m sad to see the lack of it. (I mean how can you not ship dagcup the tiniest bit. It’s like dreamworks tries to make us ship it with dagur constantly calling hiccup delecate and saying things like “He’s mine” and all that. Seriously. Dagur wants hiccup. Whether for him to be his brother or not, Dagur is obsessed) 

So yeah. I might just have my rendition of the movie be one story and then have a sequel for Riders of berk. I’m not sure how I’ll set this up. But please leave a comment on any suggestions you might have. (What you might like to see happen in the story or what not.)

I hope that you’ll enjoy the story and stick around for the ride

(Get it? ride? Dragons- the people of Berk ride dragons. I’m funny no one can tell me otherwise.)


	2. Dark As Night

**_This is Berk. It’s twelve days north of hopeless and a few degrees south of freezing to death. It’s located solidly on the meridian of misery._ **

**_My village. In a word, sturdy. It’s been here for seven generations, but every single building is new._ **

**_We have fishing, hunting and a charming view of the sunsets. The only problems are the pests. You see most places have mice or mosquitoes._ **

**_We have…_ **

“Dragons.” I gasped loudly. Pushing my back up against the front door I felt the heat of a monstrous nightmare’s flame though the thick wood.

**_Most people would leave, but not us. We’re Vikings. We have stubbornness issues._ **

Yanking the door open, I swiftly run past the burning entrance way and start to make my way towards the forge. Dodging bodies of both Vikings and Dragons alike.

**_My name is Hiccup. Great name, I know. But it’s not the worst. Parents believe a hideous name will frighten off gnomes and trolls. Like our charming Viking demeanor wouldn’t do that._ **

 As I ran though, Berk villagers would call out things like “What are you doing out here?!” or “Get inside!” Why they’re yelling this at me you ask? Well… Because Berk is currently being raided by our reptilian enemies and compared to everyone on this island, I’m the runt of the _entire_ litter.

Just as I was about to be blasted by a dragon, a large and beefy hand grabbed the back of my brown fur vest that was one of the few things that helped keep my warm with our harsh climate. “Hiccup!” my savior shouted, “What is he doing…? What are you doing out?!” the bearded man commanded still holding my small body in the air with little to no- Actually he exerted no effort as I was held a good two feet of the ground, “Get inside!” Looking back at the tall man I couldn’t help but feel a bit jealous. His wild flame like hair was accommodated by hulking mass of muscles and a strong head. And when I say that I mean quite literally he has a strong head.

**_That’s Stoick the Vast, chief of the tribe. They say that when he was a baby, he popped a dragon’s head clean off its shoulders. Do I believe it? Yes, I do._ **

Taking one last glance at Stoick the Vast I saw him grab one of Berk’s large and heavy wagons that was damaged by the dragons and heaved it into the sky. The wagon made contact with a Deadly Nadder causing to struggle with its goal of flying.

When I snapped out of my in awe daze I quickly shook my head and continued on my way towards my station. “Nice of you to join the party!” Gobber, my mentor greeted sardonically, “I thought you’d been carried off!”

“Who, me?” I asked as I grabbed my leather apron and tied it around my twig like waist. “No, come on, I’m way too muscular for their taste. They wouldn’t know what to do with all this.” Gesturing to myself I flexed my arms. That by the way did nothing to change the size of my arms. I was lucky that I had enough strength to pick up the various weapons littered around the forge.

“Well they need toothpicks, don’t they?” Gobber joked.

**_The_ ** _**meathead** **with** **attitude and interchangeable hands is Gobber. I’ve been his apprentice since I was little. Well, littler.**_

Gobber was always joking with me about my size and stature. I was one of the smallest people living on Berk and everyone knew it. But instead of putting me down about it, Gobber would try to lift my spirits in his usual sarcastic but loving way.

Taking an armful of dented and or broken weapons from the village people I rush them over to a hot bed of coals and pump air into the bed to heat the metal enough so they’ll be pliable enough to fix.

Outside of the forge all the other Berkians were fighting with tooth and nail against the dragons. From the window I could see Dragons using up their shots as they set our wooden houses ablaze with wild fury.

**_See? Old village, lots and lots of new houses._ **

From my view from the forge window I saw a group of teens my age filling buckets with water to stop the spread of the scaled creatures burning allies. There were five of them, all much more Viking like than I’ll ever be.

**_Anyway, that’s Fishlegs, Snotlout, the twins: Ruffnut and Tuffnut… And… Astrid._ **

Fighting a dreamy sigh as the blond haired Viking warrior walked away from a dragon explosion like it was nothing; I could only stare mesmerized at the sight that was displayed before me. As the group walked past me I felt another wave of jealousy wash over me. It wasn’t like I wanted to be exactly like the young Viking group. No. I was jealous of the responsibility they were given - and the trust placed in them, that they weren’t going to screw up and let the whole village burn to the ground was what got to me.

**_Their job is so much cooler._ **

Hefting my body up a little on the window ledge I tried to watch the start Viking teens for as long as possible. Unfortunately for me it didn’t last long, for Gobber used his hook hand to pick me up and bring me away from my perch.

“Come on. Let me out, please. I need to make my mark.” I tried to reason with Gobber. But of course I was to be left here. Inside, where I couldn’t get in the way of everyone else.

“You’ve made plenty of marks, all in the wrong places” Gobber set me down on the ground and nudged me farther inside.

“Please,” I begged the one handed man, “two minutes. I’ll kill a dragon. My life will get infinitely better. I might even get a date.”

Gobber rolled his eyes at me and told me the logic that I keep in the back of my mind when it comes to be being a Viking. “You can’t lift a hammer. You can’t swing an axe. You can’t even throw one of these!” Gobber lifted a Bola and a Viking came and grabbed it from his one real hand before chucking it and snagging a Gronckle out of the sky.

“Ok, fine,” I agreed with Gobber’s statement but I walked backwards and gestured towards my invention, “But his will throw it for me.” I rested my hand against the top of the contraption, and the light pressure I placed on it made it snap open and whip a bola out the forge window, hitting a man Viking in the forehead.

“See?” Gobber looked about done with me, “Now this right here is what I’m talking about!”

“M-mild calibration issue…” I stuttered

“Hiccup! If you ever want to get out there to fight dragons… You need to stop all of this.”

“But you just pointed to all of me!” I pointed out

“Yes, that’s it! Stop being all of you.”

“Ohhh” I furrowed my brows and bobbed my head up and down at the larger man

“Oh yes” Gobber mimicked me ever so slightly

Pointing at gobber I tried to make myself seem more threatening, “Oh you, sir, are playing a dangerous game. Keeping this much raw Vikingness contained? There will be consequences!”

“I’ll take my chances.” The dirty blond once again rolled his dark eyes at me like I wa an idiot, “Sword. Sharpen. Now.”

Grunting as a large heavy sword was dropped into my arms I brought it over to the sharpening rock,  a firm frown on my face.

**_One day I’ll get out there. Because killing a dragon... Is everything around here._ **

**_A Nadder head is sure to get me at least noticed._ **

**_Gronckles are tough. Taking down one of those would definitely get me a girlfriend._ **

**_A Zippleback? Exotic. Two heads, twice the status._ **

**_And then there’s the Monstrous Nightmare. Only the best Vikings go after those. They have this nasty habit of setting themselves on fire._ **

**_But the ultimate prize is the dragon no one’s ever seen. We call it the…_ **

“Night Fury!” I look up from the sword I’m sharpening at the indescribable sound that rang throughout the village. Just as the citizens of Berk recognized the sound one of our catapult towers was engulfed in fading ring of purpleish blue after blast and hot lava like flames.

**_This thing never steals food, never shows itself and… never misses._ **

The Night Fury rammed into the same tower again causing it to collapse where it stood.

**_No one has ever killed a Night Fury. That’s why I’m going to be the first._ **

As soon as the cry reached my ears I knew what I had to do. This was my chance to kill a dragon- no, kill and night fury and then I’ll finally be respected by everyone. But when I tried to leave I saw Gobber changing his hand into an axe as he informed me of what’s going on.

“Man the fort, Hiccup.” He instructed, “They need me out there.” Before Gobber left the forge to join the raging battle he turned around and commanded me to stay like a dog. “Stay. Put. There. You know what I mean.”

Now this is what gets me down about myself and Berk. Gobber lost one arm and one leg, but the villagers turn Gobber more on the battlefield than a perfectly healthy- if not underweight teenager who was just dying to get some action on the field.

Maybe that’s why people were so apprehensive about having me outside when there’s dragons around. They realized I’d probably die before I could touch a dragon’s hide.

So me being the rebellious teenager that I (obviously) am; I ignored Gobber’s instructions of staying put, I reloaded my bola throwing machine and left the forge unattended while I left to hunt down a Night Fury. Running through the village, once again the villagers ordered me to get back inside. I ignored them too and instead went towards one of the many cliffs on Berk to hopefully get a clear shot of the Night Fury.

When I arrived I began to set the Bola thrower up to have it ready to fire. “Come on.” I muttered staring up at the dark night sky, hoping to find the unseen devil so I could shoot it down. “Give me something to shoot at. Give me something to shoot at.” I squinted, trying to see better whilst I blocked out the dragon screeches and Viking roars that came from behind. I’m not entirely sure if my mind was playing tricks on me, but I thought I saw some stars disappear than reappear like it was magic.

Taking a leap of faith I began to line up the shot when the Night Fury attacked another tower. This once in perfect view and range. As it’s fires illuminated the dragon’s shape, I shot the bola and was thrown back from the force of my invention. With wide eyes I saw as a large mass came tumbling down onto the Island and I felt pride swell into my heart.

I actually did it! I shot down a Night Fury! I couldn’t wait to tell dad and see the gaze of disappointment fade away like it wasn’t his natural face whenever he was around me for all these years.

“I hit it. Yes, I hit it!” I cried out victoriously as I jumped for joy. “Did anybody see that?” I shouted, hoping that I had some sort of eyewitness to what had just occurred. While my back was turned to the cliff I heard a feril snarl and the crunching of wood. Turning back towards my now broken bola thrower I was face to face with a Monstorous Nightmare. “Except you…”

The dark red scaled Dragon roared ferociously at me and began to charge forward. I scrambled backwards screaming my lungs out as I tried to avoid becoming Dragon chow. Cursing my luck I raced back towards the village where someone could save me, if they wanted to waste the energy to do so that is.

As I avoided the Nightmare’s fiery throw up, I ran behind a mast that held up a bowl of fire that helped light Berk at night. I tried to make myself as small as possible as more Lava breath flew in my direction. I tried to look around the now flaming mast to see the nightmare, but once again my luck went sour because the fire happy dragon wrapped around the way I wasn’t looking.

Well maybe the Gods didn’t totally hate my existence, because right as the nightmare was going to eat my alive. Stoick the Vast came out of nowhere and tackled the beast to the ground and manhandled it into fleeing

**_Oh, and there’s one more thing you need to know._ **

The thick mask split into two and the fiery bowl on top. Well it toppled down the hilly village, nearly hitting people and setting more things on fire.

“Sorry, Dad.” I mumbled in defeat, wincing at every thud the bowl made. I could only watch at my screw up let a small pack of Nadders go free with some of our sheep. Looking between the dragons and my Father I once again tried to make myself as small as possible. “Ok, but I hit a Night Fury.” I spoke trying to make the situation a wee bit better. Unfortunately I was not blessed with the ability to keep my mouth shut. I groaned as my dad roughly picked me up with no effort and dragged me through the village, “It’s not like the last few times, Dad!” I tried to explain, “I really, actually hit it! You guys were busy. I had a very clear shot. It went down off Raven Point. Let’s get a search party out there before-”

“Stop!” Stoick roared as we stood in front of the entire village, stunning me into silence, “Just stop. Every time you step outside, disaster follows. Can you not see that I have bigger problems? Winter is almost here and I have an entire village to feed!”

I stood there silently for a few seconds before quietly inputting my opinion, “Between you and me, the village could do with a little less feeding. Don’t you think?”

“this isn’t a joke, Hiccup!” Stoick was not pleased by my sass. He sighed heavily before berating me even further, “Why can’t you follow the simplest orders?”

Ignoring the arrow that got shot into my chest from the harsh words, my motor mouth kept going despite my wanting it to stop. “I can’t stop myself. I see a dragon and I have to just kill it. You know? It’s who I am, Dad.”

Dad sighed once again and fixed his horned helmet as what I could only believe to be an exhausted tick, “You’re many things, Hiccup. But a dragon killer is not one of them. Get back to the house.”

There was the disappointed stare again. Thor, why couldn’t I do anything right? I really hit that Night Fury and Dad thinks that I’m crazier than a completely sober Gobber.

“Someone make sure he gets there. I have his mess to clean up.”

Keeping my head low I walked past the many disappointed villagers and the Viking teens I was jealous of.

“Quite the performance.” Tuffnut the male twin congratulated me mockingly.

My cousin, Snotlout sent me a smug smrik, “I’ve never seen anyone mess up that badly.” He laughed to himself, “That helped!”

“Thank you, thank you. I was trying.” I muttered keeping my eyes down while the group just stared at me with smirks on their very Viking like faces. “I really did hit one.” I told Gobber as we neared my house

“Sure Hiccup” Gobber nodded, but his voice was just tierd

“He never listens” I tried to continue but I was cut off

“It runs in the family.”

“And when he does it’s with this disappointed scowl, like someone skimped on the meat in his sandwich.” As I stood right in front of my door I turn to Gobber and do an impression of my father, my wild hand gestures imitating the ones Stoick makes on a daily basis. “Excuse me, barmaid. I’m afraid you brought me the wrong offspring. I ordered an extra-larger boy with beefy arms, extra guts and glory on the side. This here, this is a talking fishbone.”

“Now you’re thinking about this all wrong. It’s not so much what you look like; it’s what’s on the inside that he can’t stand.”

I stared at Gobber, gob smacked. “Thank you for summing that up”

“Look, the point is, stop trying so hard to be something you’re not.”

“I just want to be one of you guys.” I sighed, opening the front door and climbing up into my room. I swear I’m going to find that dragon tomorrow. I’ll kill it and make my father see that I’m not a screw up. That I’m a Viking. That I’m not just a Hiccup.


	3. Mirror Eyes

The Hiccups Along The Way (Mirror eyes)

Day break came slower than I could take. I left the house just as the sun was creeping over the horizon. Dad was most likely out with Gobber doing Thor knows what. Walking downstairs I roasted a fish over the fire that was keep the house warm and then ate some bread we had left over from earlier this week. After my food was all consumed I grabbed my dagger, notebook and charcoal pencil before I left to hunt down my dragon.

Running a boney hand through my mused redish brown hair I stare down at my notebook in despair. ‘X’s were littered all over my hand drawn map of Berk as I tried to find the Night Fury. I knew that it feel near the forest, but that was about it. I knew not where it would be so I had to stay strong and keep thinking of the face my father will make when I bring home the heart of a Night Fury. For once he would look proud. For once he’d accept me as his son, not the boy that took up space in his home.

“Oh, the Gods hate me.” I sighed tiredly. I’ve been out in the forest for ages and still there is no sign of the offspring of lightning and death. “Some people lose their knife or their mug. No, not me. I manage to lose an entire dragon.” Swiping my hand out at a branch that hung in front of my face in anger, I could feel the aggression and desperation grow stronger as the branch flew back and nearly took out my eye. It felt as if everything was mocking me, calling me a failure, saying I would never be a Viking. That I would always be a walking fishbone and nothing else.

When I took my hand off my eyes I lifted my gaze and saw that the tree I just smacked was nearly split in two. It was as if something massive crashed into it… following the path that the projectile (Which may or may not be a dragon) went. I saw a large groove in the ground and decided to follow it. Walking in the rut I had to watch out for large tree root and stones that could trip me. At the end of the furrow I peeked over and felt that my heart had just about stopped right there. After a minute I got the courage to look over again. Slowly I lifted my head and my eyes were met with a sad yet terrifying sight.

What I could only believe to be a Night Fury was tangled in the Bola I had shot it with. Gasping for breath I pulled out my dagger and held it in my small shaky hands. Moving closer I try to keep my breath and heart rate steady. “Oh, wow.” I stared at the night colored creature in awe. “I did it. Oh I did it. This fixes everything! Yes!” my heart began to swell with joy, “I have brought down this mighty beast!” I had put my foot on the seemingly unconscious dragon when it let out a groan that frightened me and knocked me back into one of the large rocks surrounding the dragon and me.

Once I got over my shock I tried to hold my dagger firmly in my hands as I neared again. To my utter surprise, the dragon’s frost green eyes were opened and it’s pupils were tiny slits. The dragon once again groaned slightly and I could feel anxiousness grow with each passing second. Taking a deep breath I tried to steady my resolve. “I’m going to kill you, dragon. Then I’ll cut out your heart and take it to my father. I’m a Viking. I am a Viking!” It was at this point I wasn’t sure if I was trying to convince the trapped beast before me or the voice of denial in my head.

Closing my eyes I lifted the dagger above my head. I was going to kill this beast. I was going to make my father proud. I was…

I opened my eyes before I brought the dagger down and I could feel my heart shatter right there. The Night Fury, the most feared dragon known to Berk simply let out a small whine before laying its head to the side. The dragon knew what was about to happen to it. It knew it was going to die, but it didn’t fight.

My arms went slack and dropped to my side. I couldn’t kill a dragon- especially this one. “I did this.” I was about to leave and never look back but something told me that was the wrong thing to do. Instead I knew what I should do, I knew what was right. With my dagger still in hand I began to saw away at the ropes tying this great beast down. I knew this was crazy. I knew I would probably die. But I couldn’t help it. I couldn’t let this being die because of _me_. I just couldn’t.

Of course that’d be my downfall. When the ropes became loose enough for the dragon to move, it tackled me to the ground, its eyes burning into my very being whilst it’s crushed my body under its massive paws.

What surprised me the most about the Night Fury was that we made eye contact. Our eyes met for more than a split second and I felt as if I was staring into a mirror. Its eyes were threatening. But I could also see a shred of fear. Like _I_ the talking fishbone scared it.

Instead of blasting me, or even eating my puny human flesh, the Night Fury simply screeched into my ear. As if it was telling me not to do that again or there’d be consciences. After it released its mighty roar the dragon turned in the opposite direction and tried to fly away. And what I mean by try is that when I was sitting on the hard forest ground trying to catch my breath the dragon couldn’t seem to go more than 10 feet off the ground.

Ever so slowly I pushed myself off the ground and tried to ignore the dragon’s cries as it couldn’t escape the forest’s domain. But before I could walk a few feet from my spot I felt my dagger fall from my hands as I passed out from shock.

~~

‘Why am I not dead’ was one of the first questions I asked myself as I came back to consciousness. The sun had set and the souls in Valhalla shone brightly across the night sky. The other thought that came to mind was ‘Oh crap! I need to get home before Dad throws a fit!’

Scrambling to my feet I began to run back to Berk. Trying to navigate through the dense forest was a challenge and I was prone to tripping over massive roots that couldn’t be contained by the ground. When I arrived most Vikings were in their homes eating a midnight snack or getting ready to sleep.

Of course with my luck Dad was doing neither. Sitting at our fireplace, Dad was stocking the fire with an iron pole. I tried to sneak past the village chief, but my feet were never light. And before I could even get half way up the stairs dad turned to me and began to speak.

“Hiccup” he started

“Uh… I have to talk to you, Dad.” I couldn’t tell him that I shot down a Night Fury then let it go, nearly getting killed in the process. But I knew now that I _couldn’t_ kill a dragon, of any type. Not after what happened today.

“I need to speak with you, too, son.”

Dad and I took simultaneous breaths before speaking at the same time. The words “I don’t want to fight dragons.” And “It’s time you learned to fight dragons” mushed together into a confusing jumble.

“What?” we asked each other, eyebrows nearing your respective hairlines.

“You go first”

“No, you go first” I insisted.

“Alright” Dad wrung his hands together like he was nervous about something. “You get your wish. Dragon training… You start in the morning.”

My eyes widened and a sense of trepidation washed over me. “Oh man, I should have gone first. Uh, cause I was thinking, you know, we have a surplus of dragon-fighting Vikings. But do we have enough bread-making Vikings, or small-home-repair Vikings?”

Ignoring what I was saying, Dad handed me one of his trusty dragon slaying axes and dropped it into my twig like arms. “You’ll need this”

“I don’t want to fight dragons” I said again, trying to convisne dad that I couldn’t do it.

But of course Dad just laughed, thinking that my words were meant as a joke. “Come on. Yes you do.”

Getting of the stairs I follow dad around the house as I continue to try and prove my point, “Rephrase. Dad, I can’t kill dragons”

“But you will kill dragons.”

“No, I’m really very extra-sure that I won’t”

“It’s time hiccup.”

“Can you not hear me?” I asked my anxiety levels rising

“This is serious son” dad spoke in a low and serious voice that caused my heart to jump slightly. “When you carry this ae, you carry all of us with you. Which means you walk like us, you talk like us… You think like us.” Dad paused for a second “no more of this.” He said gesturing to all of me.

“You just gestured to all of me.” I informed the beefy man with a roll of my eyes. Why did everyone do that? Was I really that horrible of a Viking that people thought that everything about me needed to be changed?

“Deal?”

“This conversation is feeling very one-sided”

“Deal?” Dad pressed more agressivly this time

Giving a defeated sigh, I lower the axe in my hand to the ground. “Deal.”

“Good” Father nodded his head, picking up a woven pack over his shoulder. “Train hard. I’ll be back. Probably”

“And I’ll be here. Maybe.” Heaving another sigh I drag the axe dad gave me over to the table and set it down with a loud thud. “Dad’s right… Disaster follows me whenever I step out of the house… Maybe I should become a hermit like Mildew. Live on the far side of the island so no one can see me and I can be away from all the physical and emotional abuse given to me by the villagers...”

Fighting off the nervousness I’m feeling, I climbed upstairs, changed into my nightwear and curled up under my mass amount of furs to try and keep warm in these cold nights.

~~

I woke to the sun glaring down at my face. Today was the start of dragon training and if I didn’t go Dad would rip me a new one. Pushing my heavy layers of furs of me, I grab a clean, pair of clothes that looks like everything else I own clothing wise.

Walking out into the village I wrap my vest around my thin chest as I awkwardly clutched my new axe in my hand. When I got to the arena Gobber was welcoming everyone to dragon training.

The twins, Snotlout and Astrid were all saying how they wanted some sort of scar from the experience. “It’s only fun if you get a scar out of it” Astrid said as she held her battle axe like it was second nature to her. Which knowing Astrid, it probably was.

“Yeah, no kidding, right?” I drawled out sounding bored out of my mind, “Pain. Love it.” All the other teens stared at me with disgust like I was toxic waste that found its way into their stream of aggression and Vikingness.

“Oh, great. Who let him in?” Tuffnut groaned but before anyone could say anything else Gobber cut in

“Let’s get started! The recruit who does best will win the honor of killing his first dragon in front of the entire village.”

Snotlout being the smartass that he is decided that he wanted to make fun of me… yet again. “Hiccup already killed a Night Fury, so does that disqualify him?”

The twins laughed at Snotlout’s words and Tuffnut complained, “Can I transfer to the class with the cool Vikings?”

“Don’t worry.” Gobber spoke softly, trying to raise my spirits, “You’re small and weak. That’ll make you less of a target. They’ll see you as sick or insane and go after the more Viking-like teens instead.” Gobber patted my chest reassuringly before shoving into the teen’s group, “Behind these doors are just a few of the many species you will learn to fight! The Deadly Nadder!”

“Speed 8, armor 16” Fishlegs muttered softly to himself

“The Hideous Zippleback.”

“Plus 11 stealth. Times 2.”

“The Monstrous Nightmare”

“Firepower 15”

“The Terrible Terror”

“Attack 8, venom 12”

“Can you stop that?!” Gobber roared at the larger boy before he regained his composer and finished with the dragon we were going to fight today, “And the Gronckle.”

“Jaw strength 8” Fishlegs whispered over to me.

Looking at Gobber who had his one good hand on the lever that would release the Gronckle, Snotlout seemed to realize that they had received no training whatsoever and began to freak out, “Woah, woah, wait, aren’t you going to teach us first?”

“I believe in learning on the job.” With that Gobber pulled down the lever and the Gronckle was freed into the arena. “Today is about survival. If you get blasted… You’re dead!”

Panic began to set in very quickly as I ran towards the round walls to try and get out of the Dragon’s line of sight.

“What’s the first thing you’ll need?” Gobber coached from the sideline

“A doctor?” I suggested holding my axe close

“Plus 5 speed?”

“ A shield.” Astrid said confidently

“Shields. Go!” Everyone ran towards the weaponry stands to grab a shield to protect ourselves from the Gronckles mighty lava-like blast.

“Your most important piece of equipment is your shield!”

Grabbing a shield I was having a hard time getting it on while I held my axe in my right hand

“If you have to choose between a sword or a shield, take the shield!”

Getting fed up with my fumbling, Gobber walked over to me and shoved the shield onto my dominate arm and shoved me into the more action filled area.

Fighting over what shield to get, the shield that Tuffnut and Ruffnut wanted got blasted by the Gronckle, getting them out.

“Ruffnut, Tuffnut, you’re out!” The twins got off the ground and out of the way while Gobber continued to ‘teach’ us how to fight dragons, “Those shields are good for another thing. Noise! Make lots of it to throw off a dragon’s aim!”

The teens that were left and I began to pound our respective weapon against the metal bit on our shields. The loud noise produced made the dragon look confused and unbalanced, but it also gave me a head ache.

“All dragons have a limited number of shots. How many does a Gronckle have?”

“Five?” Snotlout tried

“No, six!” Fishlegs corrected the stouter male.

“Correct, six! That’s one for each of you!” Fishlegs was going to say something, but the Gronckle shot a lava blast and knocked the shield right out of his beefy hands, “Fishlegs, out!” Fishlegs then proceeded to scream and runaway. “Hiccup, get out there!” Gobber called out, which made me want to hide even more. I had begun to scooch away from my spot behind the weapon’s rack when one of the Gronckle’s shots nearly hit me.

I gave out a small scream and fled back to my one semi-safe spot. Thankfully the Gronckle was quick to forge about me and instead turned towards Astrid and Snotlout. The latter trying to get a date with one of the few eligible female teens in all of Berk. As Snotlout was making an ass of himself, distracted by the beauty that is Astrid, the Gronckle shot the unsuspecting boy with no rhyme or reason. “Snotlout! You’re done!”

“So it’s just you and me, huh?” I said awkwardly to Astrid as she rolled over as Snotlout got shot

“Nope, just you.” Astrid ran to the side to avoid getting hit while I wasn’t quick enough to dodge. The Gronckle’s lava blast slammed into my shield and sent it rolling away

“One shot left” Gobber informed Astrid as I. I waa running after my shield and I failed to see that the Gronckle was chasing me instead of Astrid. “Hiccup!” Gobber cried as I was backed up against the arena walls.

The Gronckle got right up in my face, much like the Night Fury did. But this time I didn’t see a reflection of myself. I saw pent up aggression and a killer’s drive. The Gronckle started to build up heat in its belly to fire its last lava blast in my face when Gobber intervened. Hooking the Gronckle with his metal hand, raising the beast’s mouth just over my head, so the rock wall got blasted, and not my fleshy body.

“And that’s six. Go back to bed, you overgrown sausage!” Gobber ordered the rock like dragon before throwing it back into its cage. “You’ll get another chance, don’t you worry. Remember, a dragon will always, always go for the kill.”

With Gobber’s help I got off the hard stone floor and couldn’t help but stare at the scorch mark that was left just a few inches above my head. If Gobber didn’t do anything, I’d be dead right now. The longer I stared at the scorch mark the more I became confused. If a dragon always go of the kill… Why didn’t the Night Fury?


	4. Info Gathering

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for any grammar or spelling mistakes

After dragon training I decided to go back out into the forest to see if there was anything left of the Night Fury. It took a while, but I finally managed to find the cut up bola that had once snared the night colored dragon. I’m not sure what possessed me, but I walked farther into the forest and found a fairly large cove with a small pond in the middle. Birds were flying around contently and I was about to give up on my search. “This was stupid” I muttered lowering my gaze to the ground.

When my eyes looked upon the ground, onyx scales stuck out compared to the brown and green it sat on. Kneeling down I pick up a scale and stare at it in fascination. Out of nowhere a familiar screech and blur of black filled my senses. I fell back in shock from the sudden appearance and could only watch as the Night Fury tried to climb out of the walled in cove.

The night Fury continued to fail at its escape more times than I could count. Climbing farther into the cover I scramble to pull out my journal and sketch a picture of the never-before-seen beast. I kept my eyes trained on its sleek body- which was most likely the reason the night fury was so fast, and drew out all the basic details of it.

“Why don’t you just fly away?” I thought out loud. I mean the Night Fury was known to be one of the best flying dragons. There is a reason why it’s never been caught or killed by Vikings for a reason. Comparing my sketch the real thing I noticed something interesting. The night fury only had one tailfin. Glancing back down at the sketch I smudge out the left tail fin to make the drawing now asymmetrical.

Watching in fascination I saw the dragon continue to try and escape its prison and try to catch a meal of fish. Without even realizing it, my grip on my charcoal pencil must have slackened greatly because it slid right out of my hand. And before I could even dream of catching it, it dropped to the floor and drew the Night Fury’s attention to my location.

Taking a deep breath my eyes met the Dragon’s once again.

‘Why?’ I thought, never tearing my gaze from the foreign creature, ‘Why do your eyes look more human than some Viking’s?’ Slowly, I take a deep breath and began to back away. I’m not sure if it was just this dragon that was odd or if we- being Vikings, were looking at the situation wrong.

I decided it would be a good idea to go back to the Village and look up all the information we have on Night Furies. I mean the book of Dragons must have something, Right?

~~

When I finally got back to Berk and into the mess hall, the Gods tears were raining down upon us, and I was soaked to the bone. Not that it’s difficult for that to happen anyway.

“It threw off my reverse tumble.” Astrid spoke answering one of the people in her group

“Yeah, we noticed” Ruffnut said sarcastically.

“No, no” Snotlout insisted, “You were great. That was so “Astrid”.”

“She’s right. You have to be tough on yourselves. Where did Hiccup go wrong?” I tried to ignore the group’s conversation as I grabbed my food. I don’t think Gobber realized his mistake in asking the teens that until it was too late.

“Uh, he showed up”

“He didn’t get eaten.”

_“He’s never where he should be.”_

Keeping my head down I ignore the new collection of abrasions added to my confidence and heart. I’m pretty sure Astrid’s words hurt the most. I look up to the fiery blond, and of course she thinks of me as nothing but a nuisance. Not like anyone thinks anything better of me. Well… That’s actually a lie(ish) there is _one_ person who doesn’t totally hate my guts and thinks of me as nothing but yak manure… The question is: do I really want to think about him at a time like this? The aggressive redhead might not hate my guts but he isn’t afraid of hurting me, and being on the fence about killing me.

“Thank you Astrid” Gobber started walking over towards the table that was only occupied by me. “You need to live and breathe this stuff. The dragon manual.” Gobber swiped some dishware off the table and sat down a thick leather bond book in front of the teenagers. “Everything we know about every dragon we know of.” The peg legged man paused for a moment as loud rumble of thunder rang through the mess hall. “No attacks tonight. Study up.” And with that he walked away, leaving us teenagers alone.

“Wait, you mean read?” Tuffnut asked, looking repulsed at the very idea of reading.

Tuffnut seemed to share her twin’s feelings as she finished his thought, “While we’re still alive?”

“Why read words when you can just kill the stuff you’re reading the words tell you stuff about?”

Poking at my food I tried to tune out the groups conversation. Kind of hard to do when they’re the only ones in here and really loud. But I tried my best, only catching bits and pieces. Pushing myself off my bench I walk over to where the book of dragons sat and where Astrid was left by herself as the others ran off to do aggressive Viking-like things.

“So I guess we’ll share?” I offered, ignoring the fact that I was still sopping wet and in need of drying off.

“Read it” Astrid said quickly, getting out of her seat and leaving the mess hall.

“A-all mine, then. Wow. So, ok, I’ll see you… Tomorrow...” sighing sadly I took Astrid’s seat and began to flip through the book, hopefully to find something on the Night Fury.

**_Dragon classifications_ **

**_Strike class_ **

**_Fear class_ **

**_Mystery class_ **

**_Thunderdrum. This reclusive dragon inhabits sea caves and dark tide pools. When startled, the Thunderdrum produces a concussive sound that can kill a man at close range. Extremely dangerous. Kill on sight._ **

Flipping through the pages I end up on a Timberjack.

**_Timberjack. This gigantic creature has razor-sharp wings that can slice through full-grown trees. Extremely dangerous. Kill on sight._ **

**_Scauldron. Sprays scalding water at its victim. Extremely dangerous…_ **

Outside I huge crash of thunder struck causing me to flinch and turn towards the door with wide eyes. When my heart beat calmed down I went back to the book of dragons.

**_Changewing. Even newly hatched dragons can spray acid. Kill on sight._ **

**_Gronckle_ **

**_Zippleback_ **

**_The Skrill_ **

I paused at that dragon, my thoughts wandering to another Viking tribe, the Berserkers. Their tribe symbol was of the Skrill. The fierce dragon that could manipulate and store lightning in its body. The Berserker’s chief heir, Dagur the Deranged… Well I had mixed feeling about him. He didn’t totally hate my very existence, but he was very, _very_ difficult to please. When he and his father came to Berk to sign the annual treaty between the two tribes. I’d be left to deal with Dagur, who, for some reason, had this strange obsession with having me be his brother. He’d also drag me along in activities I didn’t care for. Like swimming. Were he thought it’d be okay to jump on, and nearly drown me. Pushing the thought of the… Well, Deranged individual, I focused back on the book in front of me.

**_Bone Knapper_ **

**_Whispering Death_ **

**_Burns its victims_ **

**_Buries its victims_ **

**_Chokes its victims_ **

**_Turns its victims inside out_ **

**_Extremely dangerous_ **

**_Extremely dangerous_ **

**_Kill on sight_ **

**_Kill on sight_ **

**_Kill on sight_ **

Finally I got to the last section of the book of Dragons “Night Fury”most of the page was blank. “Speed unknown. Size unknown. The unholy offspring of lightning and death itself. Never engage this dragon. Your only chance: hide and pray it does not find you.” Reaching into my vest I pull out my journal and look back at the sketch I drew of the dragon. This was the most feared dragon known to Berk. If… If dragons always go for the kill and this dragon is specifically ordered to not engage. Then why? Why did it not kill me when it had the chance? Why did it look scared? Just why?

~~

The next day the sun was shining yet again and the rain that plagued Berk left no trace of it ever being here. After fixing myself some breakfast I grab my axe and head to the dragon training session. When I arrived the whole arena was designed like a gigantic maze. Gobber told us that we would be facing a Deadly Nadder, and that was about it before he released the dragon and we had to fend for our lives.

“Hey. You know, I just happened to notice the book had nothing on Night Furies.” I called up to Gobber in what I would hope to be a casual tone. I kept my eyes wandering, taking in my surroundings to hopefully keep myself from getting killed. “Is there another book, or a sequel? Maybe a little Night Fury pamphlet?”

Out of nowhere a fiery blast came and destroyed my axe. “Woah!” I gasped looking around for the Nadder

“Focus, Hiccup!” Gobber scolded, “You’re not even trying!”

My eyes grew huge as I caught sight of the Nadder. The Nadder must have also seen me because it began to race forward while I had to choose between right and left. I chose right.

“Today it’s all about attack! Nadders are quick and light on their feet. Your job is to be quicker and lighter!”

‘I don’t think that I possible with some of the people we have in this group!’ I silently thought.

“I’m really beginning to question your teaching methods!” Fishlegs shouted as he ran away from the Nadder.

“Look for its blind spot! Every dragon has one. Find it, hide in it and strike!”

Someone must have messed up because Gobber’s voice ran borely through the air, “Blind spot, yes. Deaf spot, not so much.”

“Hey, so, how would one sneak up on a Night Fury?” I called as I passed Gobber.

“No one’s ever met one and lived to tell the tale. Now get in there!”

“I know, I know, but hypothetically…”

“Hiccup!” Astrid whispered urgently, “Get down.”

Crouching down I tried to follow Astrid and Snotlout’s lead as they rolled to the other wall sneakily without alerting the Nadder. Unfortunately for me, my shield probably weighs as much as I do and my thin form isn’t meant for rolling with shields that are my size. So instead of looking cool and suave, I looked like an idiot and nearly got my butt bitten by the Deadly Nadder.

Astrid and Snotlout were running away from the Nadder, knocking down the maze pieces, and instead of joining in the lovely action to running like a chicken without its head I decided to try and talk to Gobber some more. “Has anyone ever seen one napping?”

“Hiccup!” Gobber shouted, not paying attention to my questions

“Hiccup!” my attention was ripped away from Gobber and instead towards the falling blonde that had somehow gotten on top of the maze pieces.

“Ah!” I let out a manly squeak as Astrid landed on top of me. Her battle axe was jammed into my shield and she couldn’t get it out.

The twins stared at us and laughed at out predicament, “Ooo! Love on the battlefield!”

“She could do better” Ruffnut commented to her twin.

Astrid was having none of this and was crushing my face with her hands as she tried to free her axe.

“L-Let me, why don’t you…” I stuttered trying to smooth out the situation slightly. Ignoring me, Astrid pushed herself off and put her foot on the shield (That was on my shoulder) and tried to yank her still stuck axe out. “ow, ow, ow!” I grunted in pain as Astrid ripped my shield off my left arm.

The Nadder charged closer to Astrid and I and being the Viking warrior that she is, Astrid swung the axe-shield combo at the Nadder causing it to whine in pain and hop away.

“Well done, Astrid.” Gobber said as he put the Deadly Nadder back in its cage.

Astrid didn’t seem to hear the good words. Either that or she simply ignored them because she turned to me with fury blazing in her eyes. “Is this some kind of joke to you?” she yelled. “Our parents’ war is about to become ours. Figure out which side you’re on.”

Laying on the ground, curled into a ball I waited for all of the teens to walk away a leave me to my pity party. Odin, why should I let Astrid get me down? I didn’t even want to be in dragon training. Stupid dad. Stupid training. Stupid dragons. Stupid Berk! Do the Gods hate me or am I just an easy target and fun to bully? Because my luck is about as good as the fish we eat for dinner…

Wait a minute… Fish?

“That’s it!” I shouted out loud in the barren arena. “Okay, I have to get some fish and-” looking to my left I see the weapons cart, and on it was an intact shield that I could use. Making my way over to the cart, I grabbed the wooden shield and made my way around Berk to gather the supplies I needed. Hopefully I wouldn’t be killed. But even if I did I don’t think anyone would notice or care.

 


	5. Bonds

With a fish and one hand and a shield in another I try to sneak into the cove without the Night Fury noticing. I tossed the fish in first to see if he would react, when it didn’t I decided it was save to proceed. Of course with my luck, I got my only form of protection stuck between two large rock formations. Sighing I ducked under the trapped shield and picked up the fish by its gills.

Nervously I tried to spot the dragon, not realizing that it was behind me, perched on a tall rock. When I heard noise coming from my left I turned and was greeted by the sight of the dragon slinking towards me. It took a sniff of the air and seemed to realize that I held food in my hand. It let out a small growl before inching forward ever so slightly when I held out the fish for it to take.

It opened its toothless mouth (Which I thought was strange) like it was about ready to take the fish but for some reason stopped. The dragon backed away and stared intently at my waist. Pulling my vest back to reveal my small dagger the dragon reacted negatively and let out a rolling growl when I went to grab it.

Carefully I picked the dagger up with the tips of my fingers before dropping it unceremoniously to the ground. Jerking its head to the side the Night Fury pretty much instructed me to throw the dagger away if I wanted to gain its trust. With more skill than I thought I had, I scooped the dagger up with my foot and tossed it into the small pond to my right. And as soon as the dagger hit the water, the Night Fury’s demeanor completely changed.

It’s pupils were no longer slits and he looked a lot more friendly and relaxed then he was moments before. It’s ear twitched ever so slightly and I worked up the courage to hold out the fish once again. This time the dragon came closer less cautiously. When he opened his mouth to take the fish I had time to register that the Night Fury was toothless.

“Toothless…” I furrowed my bros together, “I could have sworn you had…” Before I could finish my statement, the Night Fury’s retractable teeth came out and the fish was devoured like it was the most delicious thing on the planet. “Teeth…” Backing away as the dragon neared I tripped and had to stop when I my back rammed into a rock. “No, no, no. I don’t have any more!” the dragon’s face was close to mine when it’s eyes rolled back slightly and a half eaten, spit covered fish was dropped into my lap.

‘Oh god’ I thought in disgust. Glancing up at the reptilian creature that was currently sitting on its hind paw, it stared almost curiously at me. Like it was waiting for me to do something. ‘What does it want me to do..?’ Then it answered… The toothless animal flicked it’s eyes down to my lap and back up to my face. ‘No…’ I internally whined, ‘Why?’ sighing I lifted the slobbery fish to my mouth and take a big bite. Fighting the urge to hurl, I made a pained humming noise that one would usually make when eating something yummy.

Nodding my head I try to tell the dragon that the fish was good. But that didn’t seem to be enough for it. Staring down at me it swallowed, as if it was showing me how to eat. Dropping my arms into my lap defeated I forced the nasty fish down, thankfully not throwing it up in the process.

The dragon licked its lips after I swallowed, and I gave it a crooked smile. What surprised me was that the dragon- this mighty beast tried to imitate my smile. It lifted the corners of its mouth and gave me a gummy grin. My eyes widened in fascination at what was happening before me. Tentatively I reached my hand out, hoping to touch the Night Fury. Of course the dragon didn’t like that and growled at my outstretched hand before flying as far away as he could.

While the Night Fury made a small place to lay with a plasma blast I snuck up on it and sat crisscross by its side. The dragon didn’t seem amused by my antics and curled up, using its one finned tail to cover its face and keep it out of view. Shuffling closer I tried to reach out and touch the damaged tail, but the dragon must have sensed me because he moved his tail out of the way and glared. this freaked me out and made me jump to my feet and walk away. But I didn’t want to just give up there. I’m not sure what it was about this dragon. But I felt something different and I wasn’t going to leave when I knew I could gain his trust. I just had to have patience and a lot of fish.

As I sat in the cove for a couple hours, just sitting and drawing in my journal, the dragon tried to sleep upside down, much like a bat with its velvety black wings. At the moment though, I had turned away from my journal and was drawing the Night Fury with a stick in the dirt. Just before I could get his face details drawn in, the dragon came down from his perch and sat next to me, watching me draw. The Fury walked away from me and I could hear the snapping of wood. Turning I saw the night colored reptile hold a thin tree in his mouth. He then proceeded to drag it across the ground like he was… Copying me.

When his picture was all done and if I had a bird’s eye view I would have been able to see that what was drawn was, well me. It’d be a little abstract; obviously, I mean it was the dragon’s first time drawing. But still… This was- this was unbelievable. If I had told any of the villagers that a _dragon_ would allow a human, specifically a Viking to be so close and causal, they would kill me on the spot and call me a loon.

Walking forward I tried to get a better view of the drawing, but I accidently stepped on one of the lines, causing the dragon to growl threateningly at me. Glancing over at the overgrown cat, I lifted my foot up and the growling ceased. I did this a couple times to see if the reaction would be the same, and it was. Realizing that I would have to walk over the lines, I seemed to dance my way out of the drawing and into the dragon’s personal space bubble.

I felt hot breath blow against the back of my neck. I turned to see the dragon tower over me, his pupils dilated and demeanor: non-threatening. I decided to take a chance and try to touch the dragon again. My hand inched closer but the Fury flinched back slightly. Taking a deep breath I turned my head away but kept my small and shaky hand held out. This was how I was going to show my trust. I was going to risk my arm, which the dragon, if he really wanted to, could bite off at any given moment. I was going to let him initiate the contact. If he didn’t feel safe, or if he didn’t want to touch my hand, I wouldn’t force him and make him scared or uncomfortable.

To my utter surprise the Night Fury… He gently pressed his head against my palm. Glancing up ever so slightly I saw the dragon touching my hand and I felt – I couldn’t describe how I felt at that very moment. Something happened right there. Something- a bond of some sorts formed when my hand rested against the dragon’s head. And for once in my life… I felt like I might actually be needed. The dragon and I… I think we both know what it feels like to be alone, and with this new taste of companionship… I don’t think either of us are going to be willing to give it up.

~~

Entering the village of Berk, the sky was dark and stars could be seen in the cloudless night sky. I was sitting with the teens and Gobber, who was telling us how he lost his hand and foot.

“And with one twist, he took my hand and swallowed it whole! And I saw the look on his face… I was delicious. He must have passed the word, because it wasn’t a month before another one of them took my leg.”

“Wow” about half of the teens gasped in awe. I myself was sitting on the very end of the bench eating my fish. I wasn’t paying much attention to what was happening and instead was thinking about the dragon. I’m not entirely sure why, but I feel that the dragon needs a name… I’ll have to see if there’s one he likes because just calling him _dragon_ didn’t seem right.

I was dragged back into reality when Gobber spoke up again, “It’s the wings and tails you really want. If it can’t fly, it can’t get away. I downed dragon is a dead dragon.”

My eyes widened in realization and a sick feeling washed over me. Dragon… He only has one tail fin- That’s why he can’t fly! I- I must have been the cause! Or at least the bola I shot was! Oh Gods! There has to be something I can do to help him! I can’t just let him die because of my stupidity!

With the greatest amount of stealth I could muster I got off my seat and made my way down from the tower. There was something I had to do, and I sure as Hel wasn’t going to stop now. Not when the perfect idea just came to mind. Running through the village I head to the forge and my small room in the back that Gobber gave to me. Wiping my desk off I pull out my journal and redraw the dragon’s left tail fin. With the thought of Dragon having another tail fin and being able to fly in mind I began to scurry around the forge to get the materials I’d need to make this idea a reality.

~~

I worked all night long and finally I made it. Today there wasn’t any dragon training until later so this was the perfect opportunity to show the dragon my artificial tail fin.

“Hey, Toothless.” I called out. I decided that the name for the dragon would be Toothless. I mean come on; it’s kind of ironic and funny. “I brought you some breakfast. I hope… I hope you’re hungry.” Dropping the large basket I had over my shoulder I pushed it onto its side and a barrage of fish came flying out. “Ok, that’s disgusting” I gagged from the noxious scent coming from the variety of fish. “Okay, we’ve got some salmon, some nice Icelandic cod… And a whole smoked eel.”

Toothless was about ready to dig into the pile of fish when he started to grow in what I could only describe as a mixture of anger and fear. Slowly I picked up the slipper yellow and black sea creature, but that caused Toothless to roar in terror.

“No, no, no, no, no! No, it’s ok!” I tried to calm the frightened dragon down by throwing the eel away. Thankfully that did the trick and Toothless calmed down greatly. “Yeah, I don’t really like eel much either.”

As Toothless began to eat the fish I presented to him, I snuck towards his tail and laid the prostatic tail fin next to Toothless’ tail. Unfortunately every time I tried to line to two up, toothless moved his tail away. ‘Great… I got to do this the hard way…’ leaving the prostatic on the ground I grabbed the onyx tail and tried to hold it still. When I finally locked the tail fin down I was sitting backwards on Toothless’ tail, so when the dragon decided to take off flying I nearly had my life flash before my eyes.

“No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no!” I screamed clinging to the tail for dear life. Looking down I noticed that the prostatic had closed and we were about to hit the cove’s stone wall, I decided to open it and hope for the best. The tail fin did work but I knew for sure that it’d need adjustments if I ever wanted to get the cat like dragon back into the air.

~~

The next Dragon training was with a Zippleback . We had buckets of water in hand that we had to use to douse the spark producing head. We were slipt into pairs. Ruffnut and Astrid, Snotlout and Tuffnut, and Fishlegs and I. Fishlegs was spouting trivia facts about the Zippleback as we stood back to back.

“Will you please stop that?” I hoarsely whispered to the beefier boy.

“Chances of survival are dwindaling into single digets now…” Fishlegs announced once the other teens lost all their water buckets.

Slivering out of the gas was one head of the Zippleback. It neared Fishlegs threatening and when the water was poured onto it’s head, it was revealed that it was the gas- not spark head.

“Wrong head.” Fishlegs mumbled with wide eyes as the head sprouted more gas into the arena.

‘Oh gods I need to do something!’ my mind was running wild and when I finally saw the sparking Zippleback head I threw my water at it… Only to have not one single drop graze the dragon’s mossy colored flesh. “Oh, Come on.” I whined. When the dragon neared me I could tell that it sensed my secret weapon. Pushing myself off the ground I began to make ‘commanding’ hand motions whilst saying “Back” and leading it towards it’s cage. “Now don’t you make me tell you again!” I spoke trying to sound official while feeling the uncertain stares of my peers and mentor, “Yes, that’s right. Back into your cage.” Once the dragon was in it’s cage I took the eel out of my fur (and now icky) vest and threw it into the large cage.

As I closed the cage doors I was greeted by my peers blank stares. I mean I totally understand their confusion and disbelief. Common how could ‘hiccup the useless’ do something so unbelievable?! “Okay, so are we done? ‘Cause I’ve got some things I need to uh… Yep, I’ll see you tomorrow!” with that I awkwardly waved goodbye and ran off towards the forge. I had a dragon saddle to build.

~~

When I finally finished the saddle I had a pain of a time trying to put it on toothless. The overgrown cat thought it was like a game of tag and wouldn’t stop running around. Once in place I began to try flying with my new companion. I started out with using a rope to keep the artificial tail pulled out, but that didn’t work out and we ended up in the small pond in the cove. Next I added a latch that would hopefully keep me from falling off my new dragon companion. Unfortunately I didn’t have any idea of how to work the tail fin so I had to keep the rope around my left leg and try to work the wing with that.

While the latch did keep me on the dragon (For the most part) my rope-leg combo caused Toothless and I to crash into a field of what I’d later call ‘Dragon Nip.’

~~

Next dragon lesson I used some Dragon Nip I took, on the Gronckle we were fighting. And for soemreason more and more people have started to watch the dragon training sessions and my fellow students started to seek out _my_ attention and time. I mean that never happened before!

Truth be told… Now that I had the attention I didn’t really want it, especially with toothless in potential danger if anyone found out about his existence. “I left my axe back in the ring.” I spoke another excuse to leave the sausage fest, “You guys go ahead. I’ll catch up with you.”

~~

After dragon training I spent most of my time with toothless, getting to know my new friend better and as a bonus I learned how to act with dragons.

I found that there is a spot under their chin that simply makes a dragon go limp. So at the next training session I put that trick to the test.

When a deadly Nadder came charging at me, I dropped my axe and quickly found the spot as Astrid’s roar distracted it. The Nadder quickly dropped to the ground and Astrid’s livid anger was not a pretty sight, especially when directed at me.

~~

New data: Dragons love shiny things. Especially the reflection off a shield or a hammer

~~

‘Oh no!’ my mind froze as I nearly got axed to death by my own creation. I guess Astrid was throwing her axe (That I made) out in the woods near the cove and now I’m in serious trouble!

I quickly slinked away from Astrid and rushed towards the cove as fast as I could with dragon riding gear held in my arms. Luckily for me, I escaped Astrid’s view and made it to the cove safely and without any confrontation.

After upgrading toothless’ saddle we took to the sky… Not. We weren’t ready for that yet. Instead I had us tied to a broken stump so I could test out the different settings for toothless’ tail fin.

This kept going on until one strong gust of wind tore the rope and sent us flying. (Which is kind of ironic, isn’t it?) Well that wind made me fall off of Toothless and since my luck is the greatest in all of Berk (Please not my sarcasm) the latch I built to keep my secured to toothless is doing its job perfectly… Only it’s jammed so I can’t get off the night colored dragon.

I had to stay out of the village till nightfall so my friend wouldn’t get caught by the villagers. With great stealth that I don’t have I rushed us to the forge so I could fix the broken latch.

“Hiccup? Are you in there?” Asstrid called from outside the forge making my heart excelerate in pace but nearly stop at the same time. If Asstrid saw toothless, I knew for a fact that she’d try and kill him. I mean that what Vikings do: Kill dragons and it’s come to the point where I realized that I wasn’t a regular Viking. Hel I probably wasn’t a Viking at all with how I act.

Brushing that thought from my mind I jumped through the forge window and greeted Astrid nervously. Now only for the obvious threat she posed, but also for the fact that I had a huge crush on her. I mean I was avoiding it with dragon training and toothless, but here, at night, alone, I could feel the effects of my affection.

“Astrid. Hey. Hi, Astrid. Hi, Astrid. Hi Astrid.”

Astrid gave me a strange look before proceeding, “I normally don’t care what people do, but you’re acting weird.”

“Ugh” I grunted as toothless tugged me back a step or two.

“Well, weirder.”

Toothless kept pulling me, and much to my horror, I kept sliding higher against the closed forge window.  As I felt the rough wood and metal tear at my back, Toothless decided to pull me through and away from the village.

I knew for a fact that Astrid wouldn’t leave me alone now…

 

 


	6. Let Me Take Flight

The Hiccups Along The way 6 (Let me take flight)

Today was the day I’ve been dreading for the past week. Dad and all the other Vikings were coming back to Berk and I had no idea of what was going to happen. I’m fairly certain that the villagers have become more accepting of me with my ‘excelling’ in the dragon training, but I wasn’t one-hundred percent sure.

Right now I was trying to not worry about that, instead I was focusing on my best friend and the pleasant rush I felt while soaring through the air. Glancing down at my cheat sheet every so often, I made sure that toothless’ prosthetic fin was in the correct position.

“Okay there bud we’re going to take this nice and slow.” I keep my hands clutched tightly onto Toothless’ reigns as I squint down at the paper. At the moment I was a conflicting mess of emotions – I was anticipating the worst possible outcomes for when Stoick returned, _and_ I had to worry about not falling off my reptilian friend all the while keeping my cheat sheet on hand so we wouldn’t go plummeting to our untimely deaths. “Okay… Um here we go – Position three – No, four…” tilting my right heel back, toothless and I continued our smooth flying, and boy did it feel magical. “Alright it’s go time” I muttered to myself as I checked Toothless’ artificial tail once again from over my shoulder.

After an increasingly speedy dive I shouted encouraging words to Toothless (And also to myself) as we began to fly through the forest of rocks that stood in the ocean surrounding Berk. Of course Loki seemed to love messing with my life because toothless and I began to crash into various pillars whilst I was still awestruck by the tail working and just the actual feeling of flying on the back of a dragon. “Sorry!” I called out, my shoulder jarring against the old, damp rocks “It was my fault”

I could practically feel the glare toothless sent me as he smacked the side of my face with his ear appendage things. After consulting the small sheet of parchment I slipped down to sit more comfortably on my riding saddle as Toothless began to fly straight towards the clouds. “This is amazing!” I loved the feeling of the wind in my hair and… Just the overwhelming sense of freedom flying with toothless gave me. Here I wasn’t the chief’s hiccup of a son. I wasn’t expected to be anything – I didn’t have to be. With Toothless… I could simply be myself without the threat of spite or judgment resting over my shoulders. Toothless really was becoming my best frien –

“Cheat sheet!” I gasped in horror as the paper that was keeping toothless and I in the air with little problem suddenly flew away. “Stop!” Oh… That was the _wrong_ thing to say. Toothless followed my order to a tee and ceased flapping his wings, but the sudden stop along with our vertical incline caused the hooks I had placed to secure me to toothless was suddenly useless and I was free falling. “No!!” I changed my mind! I didn’t like the feeling of the wind through my hair, nor the adrenaline rush the open skies gave me. Wriggling through the air I tried to grab hold of toothless, but because of his unusable prosthetic tail fin, the midnight reptile could only flail wildly and knock me in the fact a couple times with his wings and tail.

‘Almost – I almost got it!’ my fingers grazed my homemade saddle which sparked some hope in my heart. ‘I just need to stretch-’ “Yes!” taking firm hold of toothless I quickly hooked myself back into place and was able to keep us from getting torn apart by the rough pine trees of the forest. Just before the two of us were turned into Viking and dragon paste I let some strange instinct take over and somehow I was able to weave us through the rocky landmine unscathed.

I decided to change my mind again. With Toothless… The dangers of flying seemed worth it if I could share this amazing sight with my best friend. “We did it!” Still high on adrenaline I threw my hands up in the air, my screams of joy lost in the wind. And I had to guess that Toothless shared the same sense of joy to fly as he let out a toxic purple plasma blast straight ahead of us. “Come on!” I moaned as I felt the intense heat of the blast singe my hair and clothes. When we found land it dawned upon me that the intense heat and wind duo probably screwed up my appearance big time. “Crap” I groaned flopping up against my dragon companion “I’ll need to take a bath down at the cove if I don’t want the villagers to think that I burned the forge down again.”

I allowed myself to relax for a couple minutes as I soaked in the heat from the setting sun and my best friend who always was warm to the touch. “Come on bud, we should get some dinner.” Standing up on my sore legs I stretched and bit back a pained groan. While I had practiced riding toothless before we actually went into the open air, I still wasn’t used to the aches and pains riding for an extended period of time would cause. After clambering back onto Toothless we flew over the ocean and with ‘great skill’ we were able to catch a good amount of fish. Of course our great skill wasn’t that great and it ended with me dripping water _and_ looking like a fire exploded in my face, which honestly, wasn’t that far from the truth.

Toothless helped me start a small fire as I took some fish we caught and skewered it on a pointy stick. Preparing my food I couldn’t help but cringe at the sound of the piece of wood tearing through flesh. I always hated that part of cooking fish. Well that and almost everything else. I wish that I could just… I don’t know… _Not_ eat meat. But if I did that I’d be even more of a freak than I already am. Not only that but dad would complain and say something along the lines of,

_“Son, if you don’t eat your meat you’ll always stay like this.” Then he would gestor to all of me and rip apart his meat with a little too much gusto, like he was trying to show me how good meat was. “Meat keeps you strong, it keeps you alive. If you’re going to be chief someday, you need to be strong.” His voice would strain on the word ‘Chief’. We both knew that there was a likelier chance of Snotlout becoming the next chief or Stoick would stay chief until the day he died and the villagers would choose the next one._

I was drawn from my thoughts at the familiar sound of regurgitation. Cringing as the top half of a fish slid down Toothless’ tongue and onto the ground beside me. “No thanks bud” I tried to keep down the contents of my stomach which was pretty much just bread, cheese, water and stomach acid. “I have my own food.” I gestured to the fish I had cooking over the fire and kept my eyes away from the fluid covered fish head.

The two of us sat together for another ten minutes or so before a small pack of terrible terrors flew over to us. I kept my eyes trained on the small dragons as I felt toothless’ chest rumble with a protective growl. Whether the protectiveness was for me or his dinner I wasn’t one-hundred percent sure. But either way the colorful dragons neared and tried to steal some fish for themselves. I couldn’t help but watch how they fought for food and how toothless chortled when he was able to take his food back from them. One of the terrible terrors was planning to fight against toothless but when it was getting ready to shoot fire from its mouth toothless sent a small plasma blast into its mouth which caused the dragon to collapse before it drunkenly walked away.

“Huh” I thought out loud, “Not so fire proof on the inside are you?” Reaching down I took hold of one of the smaller fish in my pile and tossed it to the little dragon. “Here you go” The terror quickly swallowed the fish whole and when I settled down next to toothless again, it tentatively made a purring noise and nuzzled up against my arm and curled into a ball against my side. “Gods… Everything we know about dragons is wrong…” I gently pet the terrible terror as toothless and I watched the sun set. But, before it got too dark I took toothless back to the cove where I changed out of my clothes real quickly and tried to get as much dirt, grime and ash off of me as possible. I wasn’t too sure if dad was going to be home or at the great hall when I got back to the village, and I didn’t want to take any unnecessary chances.

­It seemed like Thor and Odin were on my side – at least partially this evening seeing how Stoick hadn’t seen me when I made my way into my backroom of the forge. Seeing how I was in the clear for the moment I slid off my riding gear before stuffing it in a wicker basket on my shelf. Taking a few minutes to calm my slowly rising anxiety, I yawned into my hand before plopping onto my stool. I decided that since I had time to spare, I would draw some pictures of toothless. Maybe even some of the terrible terrors I had seen today.

I can’t say that I knew how long I had spent in the forge, but when I heard footsteps nearing my not so secret hide away I tensed like a cat ready to pounce, or in my case flee. So when I found it was Stoick who came into my space, I quickly tried to hide the various drawings I had created that evening. “Dad!” I practically gasped, “You’re back! Gobber’s not here so…”

“I know” Dad shoved his way into the room which suddenly made me feel extremely Closter-phobic and jumpy. “I came lookin’ for you”

“Y-you did?” I squieked

“You’ve been keeping secrets”                                                            

“I – Uh – I – I have?”

“Just how long did you think you could hide it?”

‘Oh Gods no!’ “I don’t know what you’re-”

I was cut off by dad as he spoke with great power in his voice, “Nothing happens on this island without me hearing about it. So.” Stoick stepped farther into the back room and I could feel my breath begin to quicken. “Let’s talk... About that dragon.”

‘No, no, no, no, NO!!’ I internally screamed, “Oh Gods… Dad, I’m so sorry! I was going to tell you.” ‘Not really’ “I just didn’t know how to uh…” Before I continued and blathered on and burst into tears, Stoick started bellow laughter which caused me to fall silent. “You – You’re not upset?”

“What?!” Stoick looked at me like I had grown six more heads, “I was hoping for this!”

“Ahhh… You were?” I furrowed my brows up at my father.

“And believe me, it only gets better!” Dad began to gush, “Just wait till you spill a Nadder’s guts the first time! And mount your first Gronckle head on a spear! What a feeling!” Dad smacked my arm causing me to tumble backwards and into my bookshelf, “You really had me going there, son! All those years of the worst Viking Berk has ever seen. Odin, it was rough, I almost gave up on you. And all the while you were holding out on me! Oh, Thor almighty!”

‘Okay… We are thinking of two _very_ different topics!’

“With you doing so well in the ring, we finally have something to talk about.” Dad sat down on an extra stool and looked at me with this light in his eyes I had never seen before. It was like a boyish joy that was awakened by the thought of… Hurting… Dragons…

I stood silently in front of dad, not entirely sure what to do now that I had his attention. Compared to his usual slaughter first, ask questions later act, I was simply performing a party trick in the ring. And boy would this trick get a bad response if found out. The silence lasted for about a minute until dad began to shuffle through his furs quietly saying, “Here, I uh – I brought you something… To keep you safe in the ring.” And out dad pulled a Viking helmet with small horns compared to the ones Stoick had on his helmet.

“Wow… Thanks.” I studied the helmet and couldn’t help but smile at it. Dad actually gave me a gift. Though it might not be for the correct reasons, he still gave me something.

“Your mother would have wanted you to have it. It’s half of her breastplate.” I quickly withdrew my hand from the actual metal part of the helmet and grimaced slightly, “It’s part of a matching set” and dad pointed to his own helmet, “It keeps her – Keeps her close, you know. Wear it proudly Hiccup. You deserve it. You’ve held up your end of the deal.”

I could feel guilt wash over me like a title wave. I set the helmet down on my desk and faked a yawn. “I should really get to bed.”

“Yes, good. Ok, good talk.” Stoick got up from his seat shifted awkwardly

“I’ll just uh… I’ll see you back at the house. Great. Uh, thanks for stopping by… And for the uh… Breast hat.”

Dad cleared his throat and nodded, “well… yep. Good Night.”

Once the older man left I heaved a sigh and flopped back down in my seat. I wasn’t expecting to see dad in my one safe place. Nor was I expecting the gift. Looking at one of the last reminders of mom, I couldn’t stop the heavy feeling resting on my chest. I wasn’t a good Viking. I didn’t deserve this hat, nor that boyish look in Dad’s eyes. When he finds out that the reason why I’m excelling at dragon training, was because I _had a dragon to train with_ he would be furious! Hell, even beyond furious! I probably wouldn’t see the next day’s rising sun because Stoick struck out in blind rage.

“What am I going to do?” I clamped my hands onto my shaggy brown hair and pulled in frustration. “Mom… Someone… Please help…


End file.
